Utah Travel Headlines

Monday, November 12, 2007

'World Class' Ski Community Planned For Heber Valley

Dean Sellers, an Arizona land developer, has launched efforts to build a ski and golf resort community south of Heber City, near the mouth of Daniels Canyon. He has purchased much of the land in the area and has lined up private investors to finance the development. He plans to name the community Aspen, Utah.

The Deseret Morning News published this article about the proposal. Here are excerpts:

"What we have is a big, magnificent piece of raw beauty," Sellers says.

The project is slated as a mixed-use community, to include a "world-class" ski resort, golf course, hotels, upscale retail and commercial, lodges, town homes, condominiums, cabins and cottages on lots varying in size.

Sellers said he spent more than 30 years in Arizona brokering large residential and commercial developments and had the wherewithal to build a ski town from scratch, with backing from investors he wouldn't identify. He said he acquired 5,700 acres from cattle ranchers, part of the 8,366 acres of land that would form the new town.

Sellers told the AP his land was ideal for a ski area, facing the northeast - the best orientation for snow accumulation. It would rise from about 7,600 feet in elevation to 9,000 feet. The terrain is dotted with mature Aspen trees, justifying the town name, said Sellers, who said he wasn't concerned it could be confused for the Colorado ski town by the same name, 339 miles to the west.

Sellers said he hired some of the best ski engineers to lay out a ski area he said will resemble the nearby resorts of Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley.

A new high-end recreation community and resort, rich in amenities including world-class downhill skiing equivalent to Deer Valley, will be built on 8,366 acres in Utah’s Heber Valley, according to Dean K. Sellers, developer. But unlike other recent big-money developments within the state – for example, the Proctor & Gamble paper products manufacturing plant in Box Elder County that received a performance-based incentive package worth up to $85 million in tax rebates over 20 years from the State – Aspen, Utah will be built solely with private funds.

"Utah now has the opportunity to create something that has not been accomplished in the State for more than a quarter of a century. Aspen, Utah will combine the best of Park City and Deer Valley as the newest jewel in the crown of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains."